Star Wars Heritage: A Celebration of Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
This September, Topps will release an ambitious new card series, encompassing
all six Star Wars movies – including a sneak peek at the forthcoming final film,
Star Wars: Episode III. Aptly titled, Star Wars Heritage, the series is timed
to coincide with the eagerly awaited Star Wars Trilogy DVD release.
For the creation of this unique set, Topps is leveraging Star Wars – the crowned
jewel of entertainment card franchises – with Topps Heritage, one of the company’s
hottest sports brands.
"The melding of Star Wars with Topps Heritage is a great, natural fit,"
says Ira Friedman, Topps VP of Publishing and New Product Development. "The timeless
appeal of Star Wars imagery -- combined with the nostalgia sensibilities of the
Heritage brand – all adds up to one retro-cool collectible," offers Friedman. As
with the sports-based Heritage releases, Star Wars Heritage features vintage card designs
printed on greyback stock and a wrapped piece of bubblegum in every pack.
Star Wars Heritage is the first-ever card set to convey the breadth of the entire Star
Wars movie saga. Commemorating the landmark set, Topps meticulously selected photography
that has never been seen before on its past cards. This required the editors to view many
reels of actual footage and countless images from Lucasfilm’s digital archives. The end
result is a Topps keepsake highlighting the key moments from the most popular film series
of all time.
Special insert cards figure importantly in the Star Wars Heritage experience. Hobbyists
can look forward to a new assortment of artist sketch cards (only included in hobby boxes).
Original art sketch cards, seen recently in the Star Wars: Clone Wars card set,
proved enormously appealing to passionate art enthusiasts and card collectors. Additionally,
a select number of well-known Star Wars actors have agreed to come on board and provide
their signatures for autograph cards. Participating artists, celebrity signers and other
exciting content will be detailed prior to publication through the company’s website,
www.topps.com.
Topps is also orchestrating a comprehensive marketing campaign to introduce Star Wars Heritage
to core collectors and casual enthusiasts. The distribution of over 1 million free
"promo" cards is an important component of the program. Six Heritage-style promo
cards -- representing each of the six movies -- will be available through the following
exclusive sources:
- Promo Card #1 (The Phantom Menace) Star Wars Insider #78
- Promo Card #2 (Attack of the Clones) StarWarsShop.com
- Promo Card #3 (Episode III) San Diego Comic Con
- Promo Card #4 (Star Wars) Non-Sport Update/Oct.-Nov. issue
- Promo Card #5 (The Empire Strikes Back) Diamond Previews
catalog/July issue
- Promo Card #6 (Return of the Jedi) GamePro magazine/Nov. issue
"On it’s own, we believe Star Wars Heritage is a very worthy and compelling card set.
The added benefit of releasing the series during the milestone occasion of the DVD
launch should only broaden the audience of fans who will enjoy these cards,"
concluded Ira Friedman.
Source: The Topps Company, Inc.
Date: May 19, 2004
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